On that note
by Sapphire1112
Summary: One shot. Nikki and Jack plan a trip 'off the beaten path' at a formal event. From Jack's point of view. I do not own the characters.


**Jack**

 _Formal occasions_ – the part of the job we _all_ hate. Well, _Nikki and I_ certainly.

Clarissa also hates them – but she seems to be an absolute _expert_ in getting out of such events. Her claim this time was that she's _'just my technician'_ and none of the other lab technicians are required to go. Thomas had no choice but to agree as the word ' _technician_ ' is indeed in her job title.

Thomas, Nikki or I would never even _consider_ Clarissa as _'just a technician',_ because she's so much more than that. She one of us – and just as _important_ as we are. Normally, we'd be _really_ upset with anyone who tried to suggest her influence on the rest of the team is minimal – Clarissa included. She _prides_ herself on being 'a quarter' of the Lyell's brain, as she puts it.

Strangely, when this 'event' came up and Thomas _insisted_ on our attendance, Clarissa was suddenly _'just Jack's technician'_ and nothing more for the first time in her life – and therefore dictated that she was not required to attend such things – much to my dismay! Nikki and I would have much more fun if she was there. Clarissa did agree to _help_ Nikki however.

The event in question involves a rather long, monotonous lecture followed by a 'posh' type of dinner party – with what Clarissa calls _'mingling',_ in between. Nikki finds these events very boring and I have to be on my best behaviour – which makes me feel even more out of place than she does.

Sometime after the talk – and before dinner, Nikki and I find ourselves at a lose end – having escaped the _endless_ , tedious duty of shaking hands and being polite. Unfortunately for us, the one person who noticed us slip out was none other than Thomas, who makes his excuses and follows us – apparently _suspecting_ that we are up to no good.

"Hey – you two!" He calls walking towards us. "Hold on."

" _Oops!_ " Nikki giggles. " _Busted!_ "

"Yeah." I groan. "By the _big cheese_!"

"We thought we'd just do a bit of _exploring_." Nikki explains lightly. " _Interesting_ place – this hotel!"

He opens his mouth to speak, but I get in there first – before he gets the chance to tell us off.

"Come on Thomas, we _stayed_ for the talk like we were meant to!" I protest – in case he's about to make us go back in. "Neither of us _wanted_ to go in the first place. We're only _here_ because you said we _had_ to be."

"Relax Jack!" Thomas sighs. "I was just going to ask if you minded me joining you."

"Really?" I ask in surprise.

"Yes – well _someone_ has to keep the two of you out of trouble!" He comments.

"We keep each other out of trouble." I beam confidently – hoping it might discourage him from joining us.

"Yes." He agrees. " _Badly!_ \- So, where are we going? - As long as it's not down a sewer." He adds. "Unlike _some_ people...I draw the line at that!"

"We should go _this_ way." Nikki suggests at the end of the corridor. "It's an _older_ , _abandoned_ part of the building."

Thomas stops. "How do _you_ know that?!"

She looks slightly guilty. "I might have persuaded Clarissa to do a bit of _research_ for me before we came."

If you ask me, Clarissa didn't _need_ much persuasion!

Thomas shakes his head at Nikki. "You've _planned_ this whole thing, haven't you – sneaking out and _'exploring'_?"

She sniggers – knowing that we've been well and truly caught out. Well, more _her_ than me. Nikki, of course, is the _mastermind_ behind our little mystery tour. _My_ area of expertise is sewers and the like.

 _Nikki likes old buildings._ Like I said, _she's_ the mastermind – _her and Clarissa._ The two of them are secretly _lethal_ when they put there heads together.

Thomas shakes his head at _me_ this time. "I should have known _Clarissa_ had a hand in this! Er...Nikki... _wait_!"

She stops and looks back at him innocently. " _What?_ "

"Well, this could be seen as _trespassing_ – this bit's not open to the public!" He points out.

"Do you see any _'No entry'_ signs?" She shrugs. "We got _lost_!"

We wander down the corridor she suggested – peeping into every room on the way. Disappointingly, there's not much to see.

"Why not _use_ this bit?" Nikki asks. "They could earn even _more_ money with all these rooms."

"I'm sure they have a _reason_ , Nikki." Thomas sighs as we come to some stairs.

The stairs go down rather than up as we would have expected – what intrigues us all, and even Thomas can't try to deny us the chance to explore this time.

"Come on!" Nikki grins excitedly as we both follow her down.

To our surprise, there are more corridors to follow down the stairs – with more empty rooms coming off them.

This is a _whole_ part of the hotel that no one knows about – well, _someone_ knows. The owners _must_ be aware of it.

Eventually one of the corridors opens out into a long hallway – lined with tall, thin lockers.

" _What the fuck?!_ " I remark."What is a posh hotel doing with _school lockers_?"

Nikki giggles.

Just past the lockers on the right hand side of the hall is an open door – which leads to some little changing rooms – which in turn leads to what must have _once_ been a swimming pool.

It's a lifetime away from the _posh_ establishment being run upstairs. The roof over the pool is partially caved-in and the pool itself is full of rubble and other clutter – a dumping ground for _rubbish_ and _unwanted furniture that's had it's good days_. Weeds and moss are coming in from the broken roof and have taken on a life of their own - creating an _eerie_ feeling of neglect.

Well, I guess that _answers_ Nikki's question. Although, I'm pretty sure a posh hotel such as _this_ could afford the necessary repairs. We all decide had better not stay in this bit – in case the roof is still _unstable_ , so we head back to the hall with the lockers.

It's then that we notice one of the lockers on the other side of the hall is standing just open – while all the others are _closed_. We go over to investigate.

"There's a _door_ behind here – I can see the light under it." Nikki announces peering through the open locker and crouching down to further examine her discovery.

" _She's found a door to another world_!" I mutter incredulously to Thomas.

"She's _what?!_ " He responds in surprise.

"Perhaps it's _Narnia_!" I suggest, with a snigger.

Nikki stands up next to me. "You're such an _idiot_ sometimes, Jack!" She tells me fondly, giving me a playful smack on the chest. "Now _s_ _hush_ \- I can hear _F_ _ü_ _r Elise._ "

"You hear a furry _what?!_ " I splutter as she returns to examining the locker, eventually _wedging_ herself sideways into it.

"It's _Beethoven_ , mate." Thomas explains sympathetically.

That does _nothing_ to ease my confusion. " _Beethoven? Wha-?_ He's been _dead_ since-"

"1827." Thomas agrees helpfully.

I know we meet a lot of dead people in our line of work, but the idea that Nikki can actually _converse_ with them now is extremely un-nerving.

"She can _hear_ dead people now." I mumble in utter horror.

"The _music_ , Jack." Comes Nikki's exasperated – and slightly _bored_ response "I can hear the music – _not_ the dead bloke!"

"Oh." I turn and see our boss smirking at me in amusement. "I _knew_ that – _obviously_."

 _Of course I knew that._

"And _in case_ you're wondering – it's not _Beethoven_ playing it from up there!" She adds pointing up. "It's most likely someone _else_ playing his music!"

" _Obviously_." I agree indignantly.

"Good." She responds. "Now come on!"

"Nikki -" Thomas protests but she cuts him off by exclaiming.

" _It's a hidden door!_ "

Nikki can _never_ resist a hidden door - and Thomas clearly _knows_ there's no point in trying to persuade her otherwise. All the two of us can do is follow and _try_ to keep her out of trouble.

Nikki and Thomas fit quite easily into the locker when they turn sideways. Being much taller, I don't – so I have to bend my knees in awkward position – whilst being sideways.

"If I get _stuck_ in here, I'll make you _sleep_ down the _bloody sewer_!" I grumble to her.

"Oh _shush_ Jack." She chuckles. "We won't let you get stuck! Besides," She adds – _determined_ to get the last word. "I wouldn't _mind_ sleeping in the sewer as long as it didn't _flood_! - and if you _don't_ get stuck, _you_ have to sleep down the _'bloody sewer'_ too!"

"Sometimes I worry that there's something very _wrong_ with you too!" Thomas snorts. "The flirting I can cope with – it's the _other_ stuff that's weird! _Sleeping down a sewer?!_ _Seriously?_ "

Nikki and I both snigger at him. "Back's _missing_ out of the back of the locker." She comments reaching the end. "This _is_ a door. The lockers must have been placed over the wall to hide the it."

" _Why-_ " Thomas starts.

"Well, how would _I_ know that?" Nikki retorts with a snigger, so he refrains from asking the question. She gives the door a push and it swings open quite easily. Beethoven's music floods through the door as we walk in.

The room is quite bare and neglected, like the rest of this place - and it's empty – but for small _piano_.

Sat at the piano is a young girl – with her back to us, playing away quite happily.

She finishes the bit of music she's playing and turns around – having obviously noticed our presence in the room.

She's a friendly-looking girl of about 15 or 16, I decide when I see her face.

" _Hello_." She says with a smile. "I'm _Alex_ – who are you?"

"I'm _Nikki_. This is _Jack_ and _Thomas._ " Nikki explains. "You play very well."

"Thank you." The girl answers. "My aunt and uncle _own_ this place. I was bored one day and went exploring. I was so _happy_ when I found the piano – just _dusty_ and _forgotten_ about in a hidden room." She tells us. "I _love_ music!" She adds. "Were you exploring too?"

"Yes." Nikki agrees. "We had to attend this conference thing and the 'hand-shaking' that comes after gets a bit tedious after a while."

"Do your aunt and uncle _know_ about this part of the building?" I ask.

"I think so." The girls replies. "I'm not sure they know about _this_ room – or the piano, but they know there's a run-down part of the hotel. Why do you ask?"

"Well, surely it would be in their _interests_ to sort the roof out and use this part of the building?" I point out.

"There was some kind of _accident_ when the last family owned it– got a lot of _bad_ press. The place had been shut for _years_ before my family bought it." Alex explains. "I don't know that much about it. _Just that the roof caved in and a little boy died._ I think my aunt and uncle are _biding their time_ – making sure they get some really _good_ reviews – and _then_ they will decide what to do with it. Until then, _I'm_ going to play the piano I found. It's safe enough _here_." She adds. "As long as you don't go in the room with the pool."

"Guys, we best go." Thomas exclaims suddenly – checking his watch. "They'll be serving dinner soon. Nice to meet you Alex."

"As long as we can _find_ our way out." I chuckle. Nikki's _'we got lost'_ excuse' might come in handy.

"Just follow me." Alex instructs. " _I'll s_ how you the way back."

Thanks to Alex, we get back to the right place in _plenty_ of time and no one seems to have missed us.

 _Boy, are we going to have some stories to tell Clarissa._

"So..." Nikki retorts as the three of us clamour into the taxi at the end of the evening. " _When_ are we going to sleep in the sewer?" She giggles with delight at my _shocked_ face – and the _disgusted_ look on Thomas.

Like I said – Nikki _always_ has to have the last word.


End file.
